Exhibitions of schoolgirl needlework provide an excellent opportunity to expand the Sampler Archive's online database. Sampler exhibitions are usually comprised of objects from diverse holdings pulled together for a short period of time. To capitalize on the scholarship of these exhibitions, the Sampler Archive actively partners with organizations planning sampler exhibitions, sharing our documentation interests and collaborating in ways that help to ensure the exhibition's objects are photographed and documented for inclusion in the Sampler Archive database. Host institutions for the following exhibitions have collaborated with the Sampler Archive Project to document the objects in their exhibitions and make them available to the public. Each will appear when documentation and verification is complete.
This exhibition was held March 11 – April 30, 2011 at the Benton County Historical Society in Philomath, Oregon, and was curated by Mark Tolonen and Lynne Anderson. The exhibition showcased historic samplers from a variety of different countries, including the United States, England, Scotland, Scandinavia, France, and Mexico. Nine of the samplers in the exhibition were American in origin and all nine are included in the Sampler Archive. A catalog of all the exhibition's samplers can be purchased at the Sampler Consortium website.
This exhibition was held January 12 – March 2, 2013 at the Saco Museum in Saco, Maine. All of the more than 100 samplers in the exhibition were stitched in Maine or by Maine girls enrolled in school in elsewhere, usually Boston. Curator Leslie Rounds selected objects from more than 30 different owners. Ninety-five of the samplers on display are being documented for the Sampler Archive. A catalog of the exhibition's samplers can be purchased at the Saco Museum website.
This exhibition was held March 7 – April 21, 2014 at the Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover, DE as part of the Delaware Schoolgirl Sampler Initiative. The exhibition was curated by Ryan Grover, Lynne Anderson, and Gloria Seaman Allen and included 62 samplers that convey genealogical information: e.g., family records, statements of birth dates and/or parentage, lists of names or initials for parents, grandparents, and siblings. A catalog of the exhibition's samplers can be purchased at the Sampler Consortium website.
This exhibition was held May 9 – October 4, 2015, at the Saco Museum in Saco, Maine, curated by Tara Rose Raiselis and Leslie Rounds. On display was a magnificent collection of 170 samplers, most stitched in either Maine or New Hampshire, drawn from more than 40 different owners. The Sampler Archive is pleased to be able to include 140 of the exhibition samplers in the Sampler Archive database. A catalog of the exhibition's samplers can be purchased at the Saco Museum website.